Malays
Malays '(Malay: Melayu, Malay Jawi: ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group that lives in maritime Southeast Asia. They live in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. Malays are linguistically unified by the Malay language and religiously united by the Islamic religion. Just like the Arabs, ethnic Malays are part of a bigger general race of the same name. The Malay Race not only ecompasses ethnic Malays but all the other Austronesian ethnic groups. Etymology & Origin Ethnic Malays have numerable places of origin. Like many Southeast Asian peoples, China is a place where Malays are thought to have originated, from the Yunnan Province. The Yunnan Province is found to be the origin of many Southeast Asian peoples. Malays, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians and Burmese are all discovered to have originated from Yunnan, China. Malays are called “Melayu” in the Malay language. According to Chinese monk Yi Jing in his journey to the Malay Archipelago, there was a kingdom called Mo Lo Yu or ''Malayu. I-Tsing (2005). A Record of the Buddhist Religion As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A.D. 671–695). Asian Educational Services. pp. xl – xli. ISBN . This Chinese kingdom existed in the Strait of Malacca where Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are situated. Yi Jing also mentions other places in the Malay Archipelago such as Palembang and Kedah. Malays are theorized to have origins from Taiwan. In Taiwan, the origin continued south where they reached the Philippines and then further down south to Borneo and Sumatra. Since Malays are Austronesian speakers, they also have origins from the African island of Madagascar where a lot of Austronesians are also thought to have originated from. Malays share a rich and glorious history with the Javanese. The ancient Malays became Animist, Hindu and Buddhist empires that ruled territories stretching from Indonesia. The Malays formed the Srivijaya Empire in Indonesia. Srivijaya stretched from the Indonesian island of Sumatra to what is now Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. This Malay kingdom rivalled with the Javanese Majahapit Empire.http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/early.htm Malays and Javanese were converted to Islam once Arab and Chinese Muslims arrived at the islands and took over the Malay and Javanese thrones. The Malay kindgoms then became Muslim empires known as sultanates ''and ''rajahnates. When the British Empire and Dutch Empire colonized Malaysia and Indonesia, the Malays took part in freeing in Malaysia. Singapore broke away from Malaysia, which was a former Malay state. By Country Malays make up the majority populations of Malaysia and Brunei, and minority populations in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. In Malaysia, there are 14,749,378 ethnic Malays living in the country.http://www.epu.gov.my/html/themes/epu/images/common/pdf/eco_stat/pdf/1.2.5.pdf Thus Malaysia contains the highest population of ethnic Malays. Brunei is a very small country, surrounded by Malaysia on land. Brunei has a very small population, but ethnic Malays still make the majority of Brunei's population. There are 261,902 ethnic Malays living in Brunei. In Singapore, Malays make up a significant population. Like Brunei, Singapore is also a very small country barely visible on a map. There are 653,449 Malays living in Singapore. Indonesia has the second largest Malay population. There are 8,789,585 ethnic Malays in Indonesia. They mostly live in coastal Borneo and Sumatra’s eastern coasts with small populations in Java.http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=13437&rog3=ID[[|^]] Figure obtained based on the percentage of Malays in 2000 census and the total Indonesian population in 2010 census Most of Indonesia’s population are Javanese and lots of other indigenous populations. Thailand has the world's third largest Malay population. Most of the ethnic Malays in Thailand live in the southern provinces near Malaysia’s northern border. The Malays in Thailand make up the Muslim minority in Thailand.http://www.30-days.net/muslims/muslims-in/asia-east/malay/ There are 3,354,475 Malays living in Thailand.http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=5600&tmpl=printpage Malay Language Malays are unified by their native usage of the Malay language. Malay belongs to t he Austronesian family of languages and is a world major language, the Malaccan section. The Malay language is the national languages of Malaysia (as Malaysian), Brunei and Indonesia (as Indonesian), an official language in Singapore and East Timor (as Indonesian) and a minority language in Thailand. Standard Malay is called Bahasa Melayu which literally means “Malay language”. In Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia or simply Indonesian is the national form of Malay. Indonesian has differences from standard Malay. In Thailand, the Malays do speak standard Bahasa Melayu. They also speak their own dialect, called Yawi, or Patanni Malay. This is a different branch of Malay, which is not Malaccan Malay. Bahasa Melayu is Brunei’s national language. But Bruneians speak their own branch of Malay. East Timor is a tiny island country located on the island of Timor, which shares borders with Indonesia in the west. East Timor is a former territory of Portugal and later Indonesia. The Indonesian language is a public working language along with English. '''Bahasa Melayu Standard Malay is known as Bahasa Melayu. This literally means Malay language ''in Malay. Bahasa Melayu is the national language of Brunei and Malaysia (as Bahasa Malaysia), an official language in Singapore and a minority in Thailand. In Brunei and Singapore, the language is offically registered as Bahasa Melayu. Bahasa Melayu is also the form spoken in Malaysia, but the government reverted it to Bahasa Malaysia. Bahasa Melayu is written in the Latin script, but an Arabic script called Jawi also exists. The Jawi script is seen being used extensively in Brunei and to a lesser extent in Malaysia. 'Bahasa Malaysia' The national standard register in Malaysia is called Bahasa Malaysia. This literally means ''Malaysian language. Bahasa Malaysia is the same thing as the standard Bahasa Melayu for both registers have literally no differences. Both languages are the standard form of the Malay language. Bahasa Malaysia was the national register of Malaysia. The term Bahasa Melayu replaced Bahasa Malaysia. It was changed to Bahasa Malaysia once more since the government preferred the name. People from the Malaysian provinces of Sabah and Sarawak speak their own dialects as well. Although the Malaysian government prefers the name Bahasa Malaysia, it is not typical for a Malaysian person to call it Bahasa Malaysia or Malaysian language. Most Malaysians simply call it Malay or Bahasa Melayu. Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu is written with the Latin scripts. But there is also an Arabic script for Malay, called Jawi. 'Bahasa Indonesia' Indonesia's national standard register of Malay is Bahasa Indonesia. This literally means Indonesian language ''in Malay and Indonesian. The Indonesian language actually has noticeable differences from Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Malaysia in its sentance structuring and spelling, as opposed to the other two versions of Malay which literally contain no differences. Indonesian has a lot of Dutch cognates due to Indonesia's former existance as Dutch territory and some islands having been colonized by the Portuguese Empire. The Indonesian language is also an official "working" language in East Timor, a former Portuguese and later Indonesian territory. Many Indonesians often see it as same language and call it Malay or Bahasa Melayu. Others differenciate it with standard Malay and claim that Bahasa Melayu is more associated with the variant spoken in Malaysia (Malaysian) and Singapore. Malaysians see it as the same language, Indonesians don't. Bahasa Melayu is spoken in Indonesia by the ethnic Malays. Almost nobody speaks Indonesian as a native language. Indonesian is mostly spoken as a second or third language since Indonesia is home to Southeast Asia’s indigenous Austronesian people who speak their own dialects. Bahasa Indonesia is simply the unifying lingua franca of Indonesia. Even the ethnic Malays in Indonesia speak Bahasa Melayu or any of their own branches and forms of Malay as a native language before learning Indonesian. Standard Malay and other forms of Malay are also spoken by the non-Malays in Indonesia like the Balinese and Sundanese people. Still, Indonesian is spoken by nearly all of the population whether it be a native language or a second/third language. 'Other Forms and Related Languages' Most people from eastern Indonesia, Java and Borneo (all of the Malaysian/Indonesian/Bruneian sections) speak their own dialects and creoles of Malay. Such branches are Java Malay, Baba Malay, Betawi Malay and Macassar Malay. Malay has a lot of related languages due to historical interactions with ethnic groups. Malay is also from the Austronesian family of languages, which contains hundreds of indigenous languages and dialects.''Yawi ''is a language spoken by the southern Thai people, another form of Malay. Yawi is not easily intelligible with standard Malay or Indonesian. Yawi is also spoken by the non-Malays and non-Muslims from southern Thailand. Although Bahasa Melayu (or Bahasa Malaysia) is the national language of Brunei. But Bruneians speak their own register of Malay, known as Brunei Melayu or Bruneian Malay. The Bruneian language too, is not readily intelligible with Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia. The Javanese language is related to Malay but not intelligible with Malay or Indonesian. Most of Indonesia's population is Javanese. The Javanese and Malays have had many historical ancient interactions which causes some big similiarities between Javanese and Malay. Religion & Architecture Most ethnic Malays are overwhelmingly Muslim. About ninety nine percent of Malays follow Sunni Islam. Countries like Malaysia and Brunei are ran under Islamic theocratic governments. By Malaysian law, an ethnic Malay is one who natively speaks Malay (in any form), professes the Islamic faith and follows Malay culture and customs. This would mean that a Javanese or Balinese person from Indonesia or even an ethnic Han from China would have to abandon his or her native culture and adopt Malay culture to be considered an ethnic Malay.http://www.scribd.com/doc/6281279/Malaysian-Constitution The other one percent of Malays are those who adhere to the Christian or Buddhist faith. The Malaysian government and anthropologists have slightly different definitions of an ethnic Malay. But it does turn out that nearly all of Malays are Muslims with tiny hints of Christians. The very small population of Buddhists are mostly the Malays from Thailand. Many anthropologists have accepted th at being Muslim is vital to being an ethnic Malay. Brunei is lead by a ''sultan, ''a Muslim leader. Malay names are of Arabic and Indian influence and use the Arabic naming style. A lot of Malays themselves have Arabic or Indian names. Ancient Malays had more Chinese influenced names since Islam had not existed in maritime Southeast Asia at the time. The name ''Rajah ''is as popular with Malays (and other related groups) as they are with Indians. Modern Malay architecture highly reflects Arabic architecture since most Malays are Muslims. Most Malays would dedicate towards building mosques. But traditional Malay architecture is made of wood and is called ''kampongs which literally means village ''in Malay and Indonesian. Kampongs are also built by other indigenous ethnic groups like the Javanese and Taroja people. The term itself can either refer to the slums in Indonesia. Kampongs are built in a special way to resist tidal waves and flooding. Cuisine Malay cuisine consists of a lot of grilled, fried and steamed ingredients. These ingredients are usually marinaded in a sweet sauce. Meats such as chicken, beef and seafoods are found predominant in Malay cuisine. One particular type of Malay dish/snack is ''satay which is the Malay style kebabs. Satay is literally the Malay and Indonesian word for sate. ''Dishes that start with the word ''nesi ''mean that the dish is being served with rice. Since the word ''nesi ''itself literally means ''rice. ''Nesi lemak is a dish that is fried chicken and eggs served with creamy rice. Nesi lemak literally means "creamy rice". Malay cuisine is regulated by Islamic laws. M alays do not eat anything that is filthy or processed unless it is the only available food for a heavily sick or dying person. Coconut milk is another big staple ingredient in Malay cuisine. Coconut milk is typically used for sauces, such as the sauce for satay. Rice is served with every Malay meal. Malays use the right hands when eating; utensils are barely used unless when eating soup. Pork and alcohol are always absent from any Malay meal. Although Malays who claim to be Christians (who make up less than one percent of the total Malay population) exempt themselves from this rule. Chinese, Indian and Arabic influences have made big impacts on Malay culinary traditions with religious regulations. Nesi lemak is a popular Malay dish. The cuisine also has diverse influences depending on their regional placements. Such as the Malay dishes from Indonesia which contain a lot of Javanese and Balinese influences. Malay as a Race Malays are labeled as an entire race by German anthropologist Johann Blumenbach. The Malay Race and ethnic Malays are two different things. The ethnic Malays, are an actual ethnic group from the Malay Archipelago. Malay as a “race”, is a concept not only referring to the ethnic group from the Malay Archipelago, but throughout all of maritime Southeast Asia, Oceania and the African island of Madagascar. This would mean that East Timorese, Javanese, Balinese, Hawaiians, Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, Madagascar Africans, Maoris and all other maritime Southeast Asian and Oceanic ethnic groups are all Malays by race and not ethnicity. Ethnic Malays too, belong to the bigger Malay Race. The Malay Race is simply a more generalized term for the Austronesian people. People belonging to the Malay Race live in the region of Austronesia which stretches all the way from the African island of Madagascar into Hawaii’s easternmost tip. Consequently for centuries the term ''Malay and even'' Malaysia has been used to refer to the all of the peoples of maritime Southeast Asia for a long time. During the Age of Exploration up to the twenty-first century, all of Indonesians, Malaysians and Bruneians were all called Malays. Regardless of their native language or indigenous ethnicity. Even East Timorese people were considered Malays to a much lesser extent. Malays were all seen as a "one race" in maritime Southeast Asia. Even the Malaysian-Indians and Malaysian-Chinese were all considered Malays. Thus the entire archipelago was called ''Malaysia. This name traces to either combining "Malay Asia" or "Malay islands".^ [[|''a]] [[|b'']] [[|''c]] Reid, Anthony (2001). "Understanding Melayu (Malay) as a Source of Diverse Modern Identities". ''Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 32 (3): 295–313. doi:10.1017/S0022463401000157. PMID 19192500. Blumenbach's concept is no longer used to today by anthropologists, who now see that Malays are a distinct ethnic group living in the central and western Malay Archipelago. CITES AND SOURCES